The Card Apprentice - The Gummy Cloud

1By the time Chen Mu had rushed over, he found that all the important people of the village were there. Bo Wen and Cheng Ying had also been invited. They both seemed somewhat puzzled, not seeming to know what was going on, while everyone else looked grave.
    

Seeing Chen Mu arrive, the clan elder looked all around and then slowly began to speak, “The reason I’ve asked you all to come is that I have something to discuss. We have already determined that the gummy cloud layer has recently become unsettled.”
    

The meeting room was deadly silent, with all the villagers looking ashen. Chen Mu and the three of them looked at one another, not know what the so-called gummy cloud layer referred to.
    

Bo Wen quietly coughed, “This is the first time I’ve heard of the gummy cloud layer, and I wonder what it really is?”
    

The one who came out with the explanation was Kitt, “The three of you may not know that in the sky above our heads there is something peculiar. We call it the gummy cloud layer. It is formless like air, but more viscous, like a cloud floating in the higher reaches of the sky. The gummy cloud layer is boundless, and no-one knows how big it is.”
    

That was the first time the three of them had heard such a thing, and they all looked a little alarmed. Bo Wen had a look of some disbelief, wondering how he hadn’t heard of it if there really was something like that.
    

“The gummy cloud layer is as transparent as air and is much higher up so there is no way to discern it with the naked eye. In general, the gummy cloud layer is extremely stable, and doesn’t have any effect on our daily lives.” His voice then became grave, “But once the gummy cloud layer becomes unstable, it becomes a disaster for all life on the surface!”
    

Kitt maintained his calm look, though worry was evident in his eyes. The three of them held their breath as they listened carefully to Kitt’s narration.
    

“Every time it becomes unstable, there is then a likelihood that many small balls of the gummy cloud will descend. It starts with very small puffs, but over time those falling puffs become huge, sometimes extending to as much as several hundred kilometers of infection. Although they are formless, they are like transparent glue, and as time goes on, all of the creatures underneath the gummy cloud puffs will die of suffocation. Including us.”
    

The looks on Chen Mu and the three quickly changed in fear. One couldn’t escape something that extended hundreds of kilometers.
    

“That’s not all. The gummy layer is also characterized by its ability to ingest energy! Especially the pure energy form of an energy cover, which can be quickly consumed.
    

The expressions on the three of them kept transforming. The thing card artisans were most afraid of was for their own energy to be assimilated. The core component of all cards was their ability to utilize energy, and if the gummy cloud layer could really ingest energy then it would be the curse of every card artisan. All professional card artisans simply relied on energy for their attacks.
    

“Periods of instability in the gummy cloud layer generally manifest themselves once every one or two-hundred years. Unfortunately, we seem to have run into one.” There was some bitter agony in Kitt’s smile.
    

Seeing the puzzled look on the three, Kitt sighed, “The energy covers in several places within the village all have small holes in them which come from the corrosive effect of falling puffs of the gummy cloud. They have all been small this time, with the biggest the size of a fist.” Kitt then passed over a transparent glass bottle which looked as though nothing were in it.
    

“Inside is a puff of gummy cloud. Don’t worry, it won’t cause any harm to humans.”
    

The three hurried to take it and examine it with a good deal of curiosity. When the bottle got to Chen Mu, it felt heavy in his hands, since the gummy cloud puff was dense. After thinking about it, he suddenly opened the bottle to insert a one-star energy card.
    

Then something shocking happened!
    

The composition on the face of the one-star power card disappeared with a speed discernable by the naked eye, and within a minute all that was left of it was a blank white card, with all the composition on its surface gone. The composition on the face of a card was extremely stable and secure, and no matter whether it was a knife scraping or washing with water, it was very difficult to damage. Except that in this invisible transparent gummy cloud puff . . .
    

The three of them drew in a cold breath, and the already grim faces of everyone in the meeting room all became terrible.
    

It was Chen Mu’s first time to see such a thing, though even in his terror he couldn’t help thinking that such gummy cloud puffs could actually be used to repair cards. Without knowing what it really was, it did have that peculiar characteristic. He really wanted to take the bottle of gummy cloud puff back to study.
    

But he fortunately realized that it was not the time for research, and so he acted as though he were listening attentively. Still, in his heart he didn’t feel that it really mattered that he had come. He’d always thought of himself as a novice in every regard. He certainly didn’t think of himself as a savior, never having thought that his opinions were any better than those of others. But it wasn’t as though he didn’t understand the ways of the world, and since the clan elder had asked him to come, the importance that others gave him was clear. No matter whether you yourself thought you had any ability or not, you would still have to give your counterpart his due.
    

“I’ve invited everyone here this time so that we could all come up with something to do, especially the three guests. You have come from the outside and have much broader reasoning that we old people. According to the annals, the small falling puffs of the gummy cloud appear as the first sign of the huge gummy could falling.” His tone then changed, “But, if the annals aren’t mistaken, we should have maybe three or four months’ time remaining.” Then he added, “I have no way to know if those numbers are reliable.”
    

Bo Wen’s face had become ugly, since wasn’t that as though he hadn’t said a thing?
    

“The annals which have come down to us only record one instance of a gummy cloud layer catastrophe, so we have no way to make any better estimation.” The clan elder was helpless.
    

“Could the annals be wrong?” Bo Wen couldn’t restrain his feelings to ask.
    

Hearing what Bo Wen had said, the faces on those in the meeting room which had already looked bad turned ugly. Once it had come out of his mouth, Bo Wen knew that he had spoken badly, and he then tactfully kept his mouth shut.
    

The meeting room sank into silence.
    

It seemed as though no one had spoken for a long time, when the clan elder opened his mouth to speak, “I’ve done some planning together with some of the elders, and the best thing for us right now is to move the village! But there are 100,000 in the village, so that’s easier said than done. And then if we really want to move, where would we move to? The jungle is dangerous all over, and even the warriors in the village don’t dare to go far. And half of us are women and children.”
    

Everyone remained silent. Moving 100,000 people is easier said than done, especially in the dense jungle!
    

“Since there’s no objection, then I so order it!”
    

“Yes sir!” All the elders bowed slightly in unison.
    

The clan elder then demonstrated the decisiveness of a leader, “Bafu, you organize the soldiers according to war footing. We’ll move Northeast, where you will send a small team of soldiers on ahead to scout the road and blaze the way. Retreat immediately if you run into danger.”
    

“Yes sir!” Bafu shouted as clear as a bell.
    

“Kang Lade, I’m handing over everything about materiel to you.”
    

“Yes sir.” The temperature in the meeting room plummeted as he opened his mouth.
    

“Kitt, you will organize the women, old people, and families into units, with ten families to a group, and ten groups making a troop. Every ten troops becomes a unit. Strive to accomplish that in the shortest time possible. And you still have to mobilize the women and children to assist Kang Lade to gather materiel.”
    

“Yes, sir.” Kitt’s gaze was like water, clear and placid.
    

Once the clan elder had given all his orders, the atmosphere in the meeting room became agitated.
    

The clan elder then turned to face Chen Mu, and said, “Mr. Chen, I require your assistance!”
    

Chen Mu felt suddenly awkward; for someone still only a teenager to be addressed by a seventy-year-old with the honorific form of “you” made him uncomfortable all over.
    

“I’ll follow your instruction to the extent that I can be of any assistance.” Chen Mu’s expression softened the gazes of the village elders who were looking at him.
    

After some deliberation, the elder began to speak, “If even half of us are to survive this move, that would be pretty good.” Once he said that, the rest of those sitting there couldn’t help looking aggrieved. The elder hadn’t been exaggerating. The jungle was dangerous everywhere, with wild beasts all over, and they had to trek a long distance. No-one knew how large an area the disaster would cover, so they would have to go very far away. The farther they travelled, the safer it would be, although the father they travelled the more serious the attrition would be.
    

“We need weapons! The only one who can make weapons in the village is Alfonso, and he doesn’t have many in reserve. I’m hoping that Mr. Chen can suspend his research to help us make some weaponry. Each additional weapon may save another person.” The clan elder entreated.
    

“OK.” Chen Mu responded without hesitation.
    

The meeting then quickly dispersed, and from that time forward every minute would be precious.
    

Chen Mu pondered returning to the lab along the way. He’d only found out after asking Alfonso that the villagers generally used the standard energy knife, which was a type of weapon that Chen Mu had seen, whereas the kind of light spear that Colin had used wasn’t readily available. Alfonso hadn’t made many weapons like that one, and they couldn’t be mass-produced.
    

Although the clan elder had said that any additional weapon was important, Chen Mu understood that one or two weapons would be insignificant along the course of the entire migration.
    

He had to come up with something workable! Chen Mu determined to himself that he would go all out, even if it was only for himself!
    

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